Considering the gulf in class that exists in-house, when contrasting the might of Manchester United's attack to the despair manager Louis van Gaal must feel when selecting his defence, the Dutchman could be wise to turn to Andrea Pirlo's critically-acclaimed book.

"I'd never build a team with champions up front and dummies in defence," he wrote in I think, therefore I play. "That's just deceitful advertising designed to fool the fans."

United have a wealth of talent when it comes to their creative midfielders and goal-scoring strikers having brought in Angel di Maria and Radamel Falcao to supplement players already in the Red Devils roster like Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie, Adnan Januzaj and Juan Mata.

But due to a combination of player sales, injuries and a suspension, van Gaal was forced into naming a considerably weak back-line consisting of Rafael, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw and debutant Paddy McNair for when they hosted West Ham United in a 2-1 win at Old Trafford last weekend.

With hindsight, it would have perhaps been prudent to build from the back, rather than the front, as thus far this season, United have conceded nine times in six Premier League games alone - with five of those courtesy of underdog side Leicester City.

It is, no doubt, a problem van Gaal is keen to address when the transfer reopens for trading in January as the club are linked with moves for Valencia star Nicolas Otamendi, Aston Villa centre back Ron Vlaar and even former player Gerard Pique, currently at Barcelona.